


chances (just once or twice)

by delta_capricorni



Series: Nonbinary Byleth Week [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Cats, Dogs, Fluff, Nonbinary My Unit | Byleth, Post-Time Skip, Pre-Time Skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:41:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27439738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delta_capricorni/pseuds/delta_capricorni
Summary: Marianne learns about giving others a chance.
Relationships: Marianne von Edmund & My Unit | Byleth
Series: Nonbinary Byleth Week [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2002213
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	chances (just once or twice)

**Author's Note:**

> day 3 for #nonbinarybylethweek features the cats & dogs of garreg mach, as well as time itself. find me on twitter @deltacapricorn, & thanks always for reading!

Marianne didn’t notice Byleth come up behind her, engrossed as she was in distributing her attention amongst the furry residents of the monastery. The Riegan tabby was particularly vocal today, so he was likely extra hungry. Meanwhile the Blaiddyd Rex who usually came to greet her around this time was still missing, which was somewhat alarming to her. She tried her best to ignore the Edmundion that was nudging her elbow; she didn’t mean to discriminate between the cats and dogs, but something about that dog and the way it reminded her of home made her reticent about granting it equivalent attention.

A Hresvelgion Whisker materialized in front of her, grey paws reaching out to her. It brought a smile to Marianne’s otherwise gloomy countenance, until she realized the cat was attached to a pair of hands.

“Eep! I’m so sorry!” she squeaked. When she looked up she realized it was her professor holding the cat.

“This seems like a particularly effective way of catching your attention. I should do it this way from now on,” Byleth smirked. “Is this a good time to talk?”

Were it not for her fear of eye contact, Marianne would’ve liked to have studied their ambiguously attractive features more closely. Instead, she sputtered, “No! I mean, yes? I’m sorry, I’m not sure, um…”

Unfazed, Byleth sat themself on a nearby wooden crate, allowing a grey-black tuxedo cat to approach them for pets. Was it a Bergliez Shorthair or a Galatea Brown? Marianne crept closer to confirm.

“Your classmates have been reporting that it’s been difficult to get to know you, Marianne,” Byleth mentioned casually, causing her to freeze up like a deer sighted by a hunter. The cat leapt nimbly away.

“I find it much easier to talk to animals than humans,” Marianne automatically gave her oft-repeated explanation, casting her eyes downward. She arranged her skirts and sat on the ground. Her adoptive father would’ve reprimanded her for such improper behavior, but she didn’t mind the dirt or the dust.

Byleth replied, “Is that so,” which sounded like more of a statement than a question, though Marianne couldn’t tell by hearing alone. When she looked up at them, though, they seemed focused on enticing a timid Varleyion to emerge from the shadows. The way they hunched over to make themself seem smaller, ignoring the strand of hair that fell in front of their eyes to avoid making sudden movements, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of endearment at the sight of her professor doing their best for a cat.

Alas, the tortoiseshell kitten was spooked by the appearance of a Fraldarius Wirehair, and it fled out of sight. Byleth appeared so dejected that Marianne couldn’t help but giggle in sympathy. Poor professor…!

When the human turned back toward her, she instinctively averted her gaze again. She almost didn’t hear them say, “Have your classmates ever said anything about your laugh? It’s quite pleasant to hear.”

“What? My laugh? No…” Yet as soon as she said those words she recalled words said in passing, but equally in kindness, from Dimitri, Hilda, Lorenz … Even Claude had once mentioned the beauty of her smile to her, but in a way that seemed almost disturbingly Sylvain-esque, so she’d run away in surprise.

Byleth seemed to read her mind, or perhaps they were aware of such situations. “Your classmates have expressed that they’d like to get to know you. You have many good qualities to share with the world.”

She was feeling quite uncomfortable now, but the thought of getting up and running away—surely a breach of social etiquette since it was her professor, rather than her peer—was even more untenable.

“I don’t see why they keep wasting their time with me,” she found herself saying. She could feel Byleth’s piercing gaze upon her, and she turned her whole body away. “Lysithea yelled at me last week for trying to back out of helping her, but I just didn’t want to cause her any more trouble. And Ignatz lost an entire afternoon dragging me up a hill so I could see the sunset, instead of simply enjoying it for himself.”

When she finally mustered the courage to face Byleth, she found them looking pensive, apparently mulling over her words. _Oh no_ , she thought, _now I’m wasting their time with my stupid problems, too…_

“I understand if you find it difficult to give yourself a chance, like Lysithea and Ignatz would like you to,” they conceded after a while, partially spent on petting an inquisitive Almyran Longhair. Marianne breathed a sigh of relief. Then they continued, “So why don’t you try giving others a chance instead?”

“Sorry… what do you mean? About giving others a chance?” Marianne tried to divert her attention toward a Hevring that had come to nap, but her touch disrupted its sleep and it padded away.

Byleth put their hands on the crate and leaned back, watching a stray cloud in the sky pass lazily overhead, before answering. “I mean exactly that. You’re not alone in this world, Marianne. Just as you wish to hide your curse from others, others have stories and burdens they carry in secret as well. Instead of doubting other people’s abilities to understand, I’d like for you to try hearing them out. Just once or twice. You can start with your classmates, because, like you, I know they are kindhearted people.”

_How did they know about my curse? Also… me, kindhearted? What could they possibly mean?_ Before she could begin to protest, Byleth stood up to stretch, and she became too shy to follow up. But when they extended a hand to help her up, she accepted without a second thought, and rose to stand by their side.

-

Though her adoptive father chastised her often over the past five years for letting her thoughts wander back to the ruins of Garreg Mach, she was intent on attending the reunion with her fellow Golden Deer, and the first thing she did the next morning was to seek out her furry friends. Dorte, who had amiably agreed to become her steed when she became certified as a Holy Knight, was indispensable to her efforts as she attempted to locate each cat and dog to the best of her memory. Here was the Charonion, basking in the sun as if nothing had changed; there was the Brigid Shorthair, crouching in the shadow of an upturned wooden crate; the Dominic Grey, she rescued from a stooped-over tree in the dilapidated courtyard. But even with the help of the Aegir hound and its powerful nose, the Blaiddyd Rex was nowhere to be found. She supposed that casualties of all species were inevitable in times of war…

Dorte neighed in irritation and pawed at the ground, directing Marianne’s attention to something by his hoof. She was startled to find the Edmundion, staring with woeful eyes. She’d forgotten about that one.

Marianne extended some leftover scraps as a peace offering. To her surprise, the dog instead promptly turned heel and proceeded past the main gate ‘round the back of the monastery. When Marianne didn’t follow, the Edmundion barked, circled back, and began to tug on the hem of her dress.

“Oh, okay, sorry, I didn’t understand at first,” Marianne apologized. “Let me get Dorte set up under the shade, and then I’ll follow you.” The Edmundion seemed to accept and resumed its purposeful gait.

Walking past piles of rubble and abandoned belongings, Marianne wanted to stop by the training grounds or the reception hall to survey the damage, but the Edmundion pressed onward relentlessly, and she felt compelled to continue following its determined pace. Finally, they approached the northeastern staircase. The Edmundion trotted down the stairs and disappeared around the corner without looking back, but now Marianne understood where the dog meant to lead her.

Standing alone at their parents’ gravestone, a pristine yet austere monument amidst the ravages of war, was Byleth. The warm rays of the early morning sun seemed to project a halo onto their light-green hair.

“Professor…” Marianne extended a hand, unsure of how to proceed. But Byleth gave no indication of having heard her, so she decided to stand by their side and accompany their silent vigil at the grave.

“I know it’s been five years for you all, but for me… It still feels like he was just here. Like he just died.”

Jeralt, former captain of the Knights of Seiros, was but a distant memory now for Marianne. Even so, the uncut pain in Byleth’s tone conveyed a strong sense of sorrow that she was certain had only recently bubbled to the surface. Back then they’d focused their grief and destructive energy on hunting down the Flame Emperor, but now, with the Emperor having been revealed to be the current Emperor of Adrestia and former classmate, and with Byleth trapped at a crossroads of political decisions and emotional warfare, they must have been fully internalizing the trauma of their father’s death for the first time.

“I’m grateful that you and the rest of the Golden Deer are here, truly I am, but listen, Marianne… you and the rest ought to return to your territories. It’s too dangerous out here, and you need to protect your family and people. It’s only a matter of time before Edelgard discovers our presence here and—"

Marianne took one of their hands in hers. “Please, Professor,” she pleaded, “you must allow yourself time to process and heal. And all of us are here to support you, whether on the battlefield or at rest.”

But Byleth shook their head, to Marianne’s dismay. They repeated in a quivering voice, “No. You have to go back. Leave me alone. I have to find Rhea and stop Edelgard, and I can’t guarantee your survival—"

“Professor!” They were both startled when Marianne raised her voice, but instead of apologizing and retreating as she might’ve five years ago, she boldly continued. “Remember when you asked me to give others a chance? I realized you were right, back then. And by believing in my friends, who believed in me, I was able to give myself a chance too. They—you—changed my life. So if it’s not too much to ask…”

Without thinking, Marianne tugged on their hand and pulled them into a tight embrace. She assumed the pounding of her own heart must have been overpowering the sound of Byleth’s, but that only motivated her to hold Byleth even more closely. Something warm and wet dotted her shoulder, and she stroked the back of her dear professor’s head tenderly, running her hand through their soft hair.

When they separated, Marianne immediately bridged the gap by reaching over to Byleth’s face, tucking behind their ear a strand of hair that had fallen in front of their eyes, and wiping away remaining tears.

“Will you give your Golden Deer a chance to prove you wrong, Professor?” she asked quietly. “Or at least… can you try giving me a chance to help you, to rest and to fight? Just one or twice, is all I ask.”

When Byleth met her gaze, their pale green eyes seemed awash in a sea of sadness. But they placed a hesitant hand over her own hand that lingered on their cheek, and gave a wary, weary smile. “…Alright.”

“Thank you, Professor.” After all these years, she was so, so grateful to finally have them back, with her.

“No… thank you, Marianne. Let’s end this war, together.”


End file.
